The Matchmaking Oracle
by aaquater
Summary: "Q-Quest? You... me... I'm going with you... on a quest?" "Right you are, Katie." Many demigod couples have been brought together by quests. When Travis Stoll receives a prophecy, he wants to give it his best shot to join that club. And if it takes a couple of Katie's gray hairs- Well, some sacrifices have to be made.
1. Only a Bit of Poetry

_Yeah, another Tratie quest story. I hope you'll find this one original enough to give it a chance._

_Disclaimer: I not being Rick, I not owning PJO_

_I'm honored to say that this story is beta-ed by a celebrity in Tratie fanfics - Potato Jam 7._

* * *

**Only a Bit of Poetry, But How Much It Can Do!**

**Travis POV**

_Wonderful herbed potatoes… and with gingered cranberry-carrot slaw… Literally melts on my tongue… Whoever made ambrosia the food of the gods needs to get their priorities straight, because this right here is a piece of pure bliss-_

"Travis, come here for a moment."

_Gah! What a way to ruin the moment. _

_Seriously, I love food. If it was between saving my brother Connor from a lava pit or having a ten course Thanksgiving dinner, I would choose the Thanksgiving dinner. Then again, that's not really saying much considering that Connor is probably the world's most annoying brother, and some days I feel like I'll do anything to get him off my back. And anything probably includes throwing him into a lava pit._

I looked around to see who had committed the unforgivable crime of tearing me out from one of the most important and pleasant activities in the world that a guy can do on his own – eating lunch – but nobody was looking at me. Given that it was mealtime, it was understandable.

Well, a small correction: Katie was looking at me, but the Demeter table she was sitting at was too far away, so it couldn't have been her who had spoken. I hadn't been paying much attention, but the speaker's voice didn't sound like Katie's anyway. Judging from the glare Katie was sending in my direction, though, it was clear that she hadn't forgotten about the little gift she and the other inhabitants of cabins 4, 7 and 10 (random numbers, really) had found in their socks in the morning.

Last night, Connor and I had snuck into the three cabins and stuffed every sock we'd found with sawdust. I'm not exactly sure why Katie's so pissed at me because it provided (as I'd tried to tell Katie between ducking her punches) absolutely toll-free acupuncture and peeling, along with giving the socks a cool, worn-out look. One would think that a daughter of Demeter would like to be in touch with nature, but noooo! Katie is so ungrateful.

"Travis! Are you deaf or something?"

When I looked around again, I saw that the voice belonged to Rachel, our wonderful redheaded Oracle, who was glaring at me with her arms crossed.

"Wa's'ap? Wahyu won?" I asked, letting my annoyance at being torn away from food leak into my voice in large amounts.

_If this is a prank, there will be Hades to pay. Nobody is allowed to stand between me and food!_ I thought furiously. Hey, food deprivation can cause a guy to go a bit moody!

"The fact that I live in a cave doesn't automatically mean that I speak Neanderthal, Travis."

I huffed, feeling offended. _That wasn't Neanderthal! It was a normal, grammatically correct speech of an eating person!_ I protested in my mind. _Which is to say, Gastronomish._

I swallowed a potato and repeated, "What's up? What do you want?"

"Come here for a moment," Rachel repeated.

_Yeah, and leave my lunch here? No way._

"I can't, I'm eating. Lunch can't wait, you can," I explained, gesturing with my arms to the food for a bigger effect.

Rachel sighed, sporting the 'One of us surely has to be crazy' look I tend to see on people quite often when I talk to them. "Then come to my cave right after lunch, you gourmet." She then performed a half-pirouette on her heel and walked away.

I switched my attention back to the table and noticed that Connor was staring at me. He was about to say something, but I stopped him before a single word could leak out of his mouth.

"No. First, she's the Oracle, she can't date. And second, this didn't even sound like asking out," I said firmly, but still quietly enough that only Connor could hear me.

To my surprise, Connor didn't turn back to his food, but kept staring at me, this time in confusion. "Err... That's nice to know, but I just wanted to ask... if you could pass me that bottle of ketchup on your right." He dropped his voice. "Do you really think I don't know that you've got all senses set for one particular person?" Connor pointed at the Demeter table with his thumb.

"Oh... Well, yeah. Just checking, you know?" I said, feeling embarrassed, and reached out for the bottle of ketchup Connor had asked for.

"Sure, bro," Connor drawled and stuffed his mouth with the delicious slaw, freshly gilded with red drops of ketchup.

Now that I had nobody bothering me anymore, I decided to do the same.

Ten minutes of pure food bliss later, I jogged right to Rachel's cave, wondering why she had felt the need to interrupt my eating.

It was strange. I mean, generally, Rachel was strange – like, I-know-the-future strange – but now, it looked like she had to tell me something very important, and only in between four eyes. Rachel was many things, but secretive was not one of them.

I stopped at the entrance, wondering if I should knock or not. I peeked inside and saw Rachel sitting in a chair, reading Olympus Weekly with her back facing me. On a little round table behind her laid a bowl that looked like it was from yesterday's cereal with milk. (Katie's mom would be proud.) Obviously, washing the dishes didn't belong to her favorites. But is there someone who can honestly say the opposite? Kitchen duty is nightmare stuff.

I couldn't miss an opportunity like this. I was going to announce myself in a…uh…_different_ way today. I tiptoed inside and picked the bowl up. Strangely enough, it smelled like Vietnamese noodle soup, though the little dried brown things around the edge were definitely oats. Could I have finally found another person for my 'Every Combination Tastes Amazing' motto?

Regardless, I turned the bowl upside-down and put it on the top of Rachel's head, like a cap. Unfortunately, there was no left-over milk on the bottom.

Rachel jerked, letting the newspaper fall to the ground in favor of taking the bowl off her head.

"Hey! Who... what... oh, of course, Travis! I should've known; who else would use a bowl as a hat?"

"New fashion. Any problem?" I grinned. "So, what is so important that you couldn't have let me eat in peace?"

"This." Rachel closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were green and glowing. Mist appeared around her, similar to the ones at the concerts, but this one was green. (Why is everything connected to the Oracle green?)

I knew what that all meant. I was about to hear a prophecy.

"_Thievery and grain must combine their forces,_

_despite the rain, searching for flesh-eating horses._

_The biggest gift will be the prize,_

_the items that disappeared come as a surprise._

_Though finding more than they were looking for,_

_only one walks back from where two go."_

_My first thought?__ Great, I'm feeling better immediately!_ (Do you feel the sarcasm?)

My throat tightened in a far more unpleasant way than any time Katie had attempted to strangle me for one thing or another, and my hands felt quite numb as I put Rachel back in her chair after she'd collapsed. I didn't like the mention of rain or flesh-eating horses, but mostly, it was the last line that… okay, I'll admit it, terrified me. I knew the Spirit of Delphi had quite a way with words and a nasty sense of humor, so even prophecies that turned out alright in the end were all dark and gloomy, but still, _only one walks back_...

I had to tell this to Chiron, regardless the meaning.

The mist disappeared in a couple of seconds. Rachel woke up and directed her green orbs at me. "So? What did I say?"

"You don't know?" I croaked.

Rachel shook her head. "I only had a feeling I had a prophecy for you, so I called you here. I never know the exact wording of my prophecies."

I sighed. "I… I can't… I'm sorry," I said, trying to wriggle myself from telling. But what would you do, had you received a prophecy like this one?

Thankful that my voice wasn't shaking, and eager to change the subject, I asked, "How does that work, anyway? When you spoke the next Great Prophecy, you just collapsed on the spot. Can you hold the spirit back now?"

"A bit… I didn't want to cause a scene at lunch, that's why I wanted you to come here… ASAP," Rachel glared at me. I grinned sheepishly. "Also, with the Great Prophecy… well, it was mostly 'cause it had no real addressee. I mean; I know that there are those seven half-bloods it speaks about, but for all we know, they aren't even alive yet."

"Right. And because now, the prophecy had a particular addressee – me – you could wait for a while before letting the spirit take over you," I said, nodding. "I wonder; when you're holding the spirit back, does it feel like when you're trying to hold back a burp?"

Rachel's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Did you just compare the Spirit of Delphi to a _burp_?! Because I _so_ know you didn't."

"Um… I should probably disappear now. I've got to go to Chiron anyway. Bye!" I called before walking away hurriedly. Mortal or not, nobody wanted to be at the receiving end of one of Rachel's kicks.

"Bye," Rachel whispered. She looked at me for the last time, and all humor was gone from her face; I saw that pity had replaced it. I got a feeling she knew the prophecy didn't sound very... optimistic. Maybe it was just experience, maybe my behavior had told her so much, but what should have I done? The poem had really freaked me out.

On the way back from the cave, I was thinking about the last line all the time. (Don't look so shocked, okay? I'm perfectly capable of thinking, regardless what everyone says.) The first interpretation of a prophecy is often incorrect, so I was trying to find a different meaning to it, and the one I thought most likely was something like flying instead of walking; that the literal meaning of walking was what this was about. If not, there would've been 'one comes back' or 'one returns,' right? It felt more... natural than 'one walks back,' at least in my opinion.

I met Chiron as he was galloping towards the archery training. Probably a lesson was starting soon; I didn't know. I didn't want to disturb him while he was teaching, so I ran after him and managed to catch up with him before he got to the arena. Believe me; you don't want to disturb an archer when he's shooting. I did it once, thinking it could be fun, and the arrow ended less than an inch from my shoulder. But I think the reason why it landed so close to me was because of the fact that the Demeter cabin was shooting that day, and let's just say…well, me and the Demeter cabin, we're not exactly _best friends_.

"Chiron! Wait a minute; I need to talk to you. It's very important," I called, running to keep up with the pace of his four legs.

Chiron stopped and turned so he was facing me. "Important? I'm listening."

"Well, Rachel...she, um, sort of told me a prophecy about five minutes ago."

Chiron's eyebrows rose up to his hairline. "A prophecy? Well, that is important news, all right. How did the prophecy go Travis?"

"Err... something about... about the weather; it's going to rain…."

Chiron sighed heavily. He was probably thinking something along the lines of: _That Travis Stoll. So awesome, but so dumb._

"What did it say _exactly?_" Chiron pressed.

"_Thievery and grain must combine their forces,_

_despite the rain, searching for flesh-eating horses._

_The biggest gift will be the prize,_

_the items that disappeared come as a surprise."_

Of course, I'd remembered the whole prophecy, but... I didn't feel like telling Chiron the last line and I wasn't able to make up another way to mask it on the spot, except not saying the fifth line, too. Shame on me; I'm usually quite good at making stuff up on the spot, especially poems. During Valentine's Day last year, I made up a poem for every single girl at camp and tried to recite it to them while carrying them off into the sunset. You know, I never knew girls were that heavy… (Though, so you wouldn't start getting traitorous thoughts about the word 'wimp', I'm sure the snow and the amount of anoraks the girls had on played a crucial part. Why couldn't Valentine's Day be in summer?)

Chiron breathed in and out deeply. "Oh... very well. We'll have a meeting after dinner; we'll talk more about this then. Meanwhile, try to do some normal activities."

"Uh, Chiron? Do you know where I'm supposed to go? I mean, where could be some flesh-eating horses?" I asked. It would be stupid to go on a quest with no idea where to go.

"I think I do, Travis. It is Eurytion's ranch, situated at the periphery of Dalhart, in the northwestern corner of Texas. At least, I don't know about any other horses that the prophecy could mean. And, according to the prophecy, which isn't very clear, it seems like something has disappeared from his ranch, and he wants you to find it."

After these words, Chiron went... err, galloped towards the arena.

I was almost certain Chiron knew I was hiding something. I was sure I was neither the first, nor the last one who kept some part of a prophecy to himself or herself. (Just look at Annabeth a year ago – even a blind person would know she'd held something back.) I turned around and went to the climbing wall to force myself into thinking about something besides the prophecy.

I almost made it, but when I was right under the top, the prophecy replayed in my head once again. (I hate it when I hear something and then it's constantly replaying itself in my head. Especially if it's some song I cannot stand, like some crappy catchy techno stuff that is almost lyric-less and shouldn't even be called a song.) Had I been the only one climbing, I would've fallen down. Luckily for me, it didn't happen like that. I felt someone catch my arm and help me climb on the top.

"Travis, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks a ton, Mitchell."

Currently, I owed my life to Mitchell Gilman, one of the only people from the Aphrodite cabin I could have a sensible discussion with.

"That's nothing. We don't need to have a Travis-shaped decoration under the climbing wall."

"Erk...Thank you?" I said uncertainly, making Mitchell snort. "And I don't even want to imagine Connor being the counselor alone. There's only one simple word for that – horror," I added.

"Yeah, there's that, too," Mitchell grinned. "And he would be alone for all of the pranks, what a shame."

"Nah, I'm sure there would be some good replacement, and really fast, but I don't think the new person could work with Connor as well as I do. There is one good thing coming from the fact that Connor is my brother, after all."

We were sitting there for a while, just looking at our surroundings (a few girls were sunbathing down by the fields, but that's not what I meant…okay, fine, maybe. But really, can I help that there are a bunch of girls in bikinis in front of me?!) when I realized it wouldn't hurt to say something to Mitchell. I mean, he had just saved… Well, if not my life, then at least a couple of weeks spent at the infirmary.

"Listen, Mitchell, you remember the little gift you found in your socks today? Well, it was me and Connor who had put it there and… I'd just like to say... err, I just want to tell you... I'm sorry?"

It came out more like a question than like a real apology. Mitchell laughed.

"Soo... One, since when do you actually apologize after you prank someone? And two, I didn't find any gift in my socks this morning."

I frowned. "How come? I think I'll have a word with Connor; he was the one in your cabin. He was supposed to find every single sock."

Mitchell started laughing harder. "That won't be necessary. You see; I overheard you two planning, so before I went to sleep yesterday, I put every single pair of socks I had on my feet, and I told Lacy to do the same. We looked like our ankles were broken, but it served the purpose."

I whistled appreciatively. "Nice. Definitely served the purpose. How did you overhear us, anyway?"

Mitchell shrugged. "Don't talk about your plans in the restroom."

I scrunched my nose in thought. "You're right; anyone in the cubicles could've heard us. Hey, was there anyone in other cubicles; do you know?"

"Excuse me, I don't go looking into other cubicles," Mitchell huffed. "Especially in the guys' restroom."

I snorted. "True," I said, thanked him once more and started to climb down. I tried to think about the prank I was planning to do to the Ares cabin, about Katie, about a double hamburger with French fries – about anything that came to my mind besides the prophecy.

It went like that for the rest of the day, too. I was trying to concentrate on what I was doing, but sometimes I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

For example – archery. From thirty shots, I hit the bull's eye or at least something nearby twenty-six times, but the remaining four times, the arrow ended more than five feet from the target. And trust me, The Travis _never _misses a single shot. When I was in sword fighting, I swung my sword and it left my hand and ended somewhere in a tree (which probably didn't make the dryad very fond of me), so I resigned and went to my cabin.

The nearer dinner was, the more nervous I felt. This was going to be my first quest. I thought about asking Katie to come with me. I wanted her to come (maybe we'd get from the '15 slaps per day' phase to '15 kisses per day' _(Okay, Travis, stop daydreaming right now!)_), but on the other hand, there was that last line. The line was the reason why I even thought about asking somebody else; I wasn't completely sure about my theory. But, finally, I decided to ask her out... err, not really out, even though technically, we'd be going out of Camp, but to ask Katie to join me on the quest. After all, I had a gut feeling that it was supposed to be Katie and I on this quest; I mean, the Hermes and Demeter cabins together, and the prophecy came to me? There wasn't anyone else who was special to me in the Demeter cabin except Katie. That also meant that I knew Katie better than any of her siblings, although maybe not in a way that would be useful on a quest. I did not suppose that knowing what made Katie very angry and what just a bit would've mattered if we were facing some monsters together.

Immediately after I came to a decision, I heard the conch shell. _Dinner!_ I woke up from my musings and saw the whole cabin right in front of me, playing poker. I hadn't even heard them coming in.

"Eleven, dinner! Get up!" I called. After about two minutes of grumbling, they finally obeyed. Meanwhile, I looked at their cards.

"Liam, don't risk this game," I whispered to a fifteen-year-old boy with medium length straight brown hair. "Connor and Laura have the other kings."

Liam nodded his thanks.

"Laura, when the other cards get uncovered, you'll have full house."

I got rewarded with a kiss on the cheek for my advice. I blushed, even though Laura was only thirteen and the gesture was purely sister-like. (Well, she was my half-sister, after all...)

"Come on, with full stomachs, your brains are going to work better, too," I said, joining Connor at the beginning of the line.

Finally, we got out of the cabin. Of course, by the time we got to the Mess Hall, everyone else was already having dinner. We were last once again.

I grabbed a plate, took some rice and breaded cauliflower and sacrificed a bit in the brazier. "To Hermes," I said, and quietly added, "Please, let me be right about the meaning of the last line. Let us both return from the quest."

For the first time since we'd had spaghetti with dill (I'm going to sound like such a hypocrite right now, with my ECTA motto and all, but seriously; how could anyone eat _spaghetti with dill? Yuck!_ I had been sick the whole next day!) I was not enjoying my dinner. I didn't think I'd ever been so nervous. Well, I guess it was a bit logical; I was about to go on my first real quest ever. (The quest in July, when Connor and I had been sent to destroy a bus full of monsters, I didn't count as a real quest.)

After dinner, it was time for the campfire. Chiron tended to announce tomorrow's activities just before we went there, and today wasn't an exception.

"Campers! On next Wednesday, we're having canoe races, but that's not the main thing I want to tell you right now. Travis Stoll got a prophecy from Rachel, our Oracle, today. Tomorrow, he's going on a quest."

Every single person turned towards me. Connor punched me in the shoulder, exclaiming, "That's what Rachel wanted to tell you! I should've known!" I hoped I wasn't blushing. The #1 prankster of Camp Half-Blood can't blush at a bit of attention!

After that, Chiron came to me and added quietly, "Travis, you have half an hour to find another person who is going to go with you. All three of us will meet in the Big House. Well, four of us, if we count Mr. D. I hope you can give up roasting marshmallows for that."

"Noooo, does he have to be there?" I whined, pouting like a little kid in front of the shop with sweets.

Chiron looked at me sternly. "Travis, only he can give you a security pass and you can't get out of the Camp without it, as you very well know."

"But I can hope," I muttered, but nodded to show Chiron that I understood. "I'll find somebody," I said and walked slowly towards the campfire, where the other campers already were.

Okay, the problem who to ask had been solved. I just had to figure out how to ask her.

Coincidence helped me. I saw Katie going to the restroom; fortunately, alone. I really can't understand why girls always go to the toilet in groups, but I doubt I'll ever understand. It's not like they need another person in there to keep the toilet seat down or to hand the toilet paper over or- I guess I should stop, I've just eaten.

I ran to the girls' restroom and blocked the door with a thick branch I'd found on the ground. After about a minute, I heard the expected banging. I couldn't help a smirk from spreading across my face.

"Hello! Is anybody there? Let me out, whoever you are!" Katie yelled.

"You know, you really shouldn't yell like that, Katie-kat. Just try to imagine… what if I was Mr. D, and you were hollering at me like that, Katie?" I teased her. Then I cringed, when I imagined myself looking in a mirror and seeing Mr. D's face. "On the other hand, you don't really have to imagine that."

"Travis Stoll! Open or I'll..."

_Well, I can see this is going to be interesting._

"Or what? You'll put strawberries on my pillow? Thanks for the dessert," I taunted her.

"_Open!_ Or I'll smash the door!"

"Sure, Katie. Suure... I don't want to wait for the door to rot only so I'll see you smashing it."

"UNBLOCK THE DOOR THIS INSTANT! Let me out of here!"

"Sheesh, could you be any louder? I can still hear. Barely, but I can. And I won't let you out. Only if you..."

"Only if I what? If I rob the McDonald's with you? Forget it," Katie snapped.

"You know, that's not a bad idea at all, but I have something else in mind. Just say you'll do it; I won't allow you to let me spoil the surprise."

"No, 'cause as I know you, the best thing that will happen to me is public embarrassment."

I smirked. Well, this could be an exception, but... we'll see.

"Just say yes, or you are spending the night here, and I'll need to find someone else," I said. I really hadn't thought persuading Katie would be so difficult.

"Someone else?"

"Just say yes!"

"Aargh... vcq!"

"What? You see... a rank in Judo? And why are you saying something about yourself in plural?"

"No! These are just letters! V, c and q," Katie said impatiently. After a couple of seconds she added incredulously, "You know what a plural is?"

"That still doesn't make any sense. And yes, Katie, believe it or not, I passed third grade."

"Huh. Must've been a miracle. And you have to move the first letter three places in the alphabet and the second and third two places, Stoll."

"Oh, that's... tao? What? That sounds Chinese! Don't tell me that I need to translate _this_ from Chinese," I pleaded. Especially as I didn't know anyone at Camp who spoke Chinese.

"No," Katie laughed. "I don't speak Chinese. Though, there is a religion in China called Taoism… but that's not what I mean. Just move the letters in the right direction of the alphabet. I hope you know which one it is."

"Yeah, I do! But… I just did that, and you said that it's wrong!"

Katie let out a half-frustrated, half-furious cry, and I chuckled. "Alright, fine. Don't spit your lungs out. I meant to say… Y-E-S. Erm…"

"Please tell me you know what you just spelled," Katie said after a brief moment of silence.

"I do!" I yelled impatiently.

"Good to know," Katie remarked dryly.

"I was just surprised you said yes," I huffed. "We'll meet in the Big House in twenty minutes. Try to be punctual."

I slowly turned around and made my way towards the cabins, trying to walk as loudly as possible, stepping on every twig. It took only a few seconds before Katie cried, "Hey! You forgot to open the door!"

I'd been waiting for her to say that. I returned, removed the twig and, thanks to a lot of experience in these situations, ducked the slap aimed for my head. I saw that Katie looked pretty confused about the whole situation, but I hoped she would come.

I didn't go back to the campfire, though. I didn't want to be bombarded by questions. I used my time in a better way, by a creative and extremely useful activity. I sneaked into the tool shed, grabbed two buckets of paint and painted some of the footings on the climbing wall orange and bows and arrows used in archery practice green. I purposefully picked paints that dried very slowly and when they got on your skin, it was very hard to remove them.

I reached the Big House on time. (Yes, I can be punctual when I want to and when I'm on my own.) Katie wasn't there yet, but Chiron and Mr. D were. And though being in their presence was about equally dangerous for me, I'd exchange Katie for Mr. D in a blink of an eye, if it wasn't necessary for the latter to be present at the meeting.

When Katie finally arrived, Chiron said, "So, I believe you know where you have to go. You're departing tomorrow in the morning."

"W-what?" Katie asked, sporting a picture perfect expression of bewilderment. But her face was always picture perfect anyway.

"Yeah, I know. I will be prepared tomorrow," I said.

Chiron nodded. "So that's solved. Where should Argus take you?"

"We're going to take a train, so I'd say to the railway station."

I thought that would be the best way – to travel by train somewhere to Oklahoma City and then we'd use whatever means of transport would be available to reach Dalhart.

I searched the internet on Chiron's computer and looked for a train. I found one departing from New York tomorrow at 9:35 AM. We'd shift trains in Washington D.C., Chicago and Fort Worth and arrive in Oklahoma City at 9:39 PM on Saturday, which looked absolutely perfect to me. I showed it to Chiron and he nodded.

"Very well. That's all for now, I think; you can go and pack yourselves. Or... wait, you can't. There's one more thing. Mr. D."

Dionysus was reading some magazine about wine (shocker), so he ignored Chiron.

"Mr. D," Chiron raised his voice. "The security pass."

"What? Oh, yes," the god of wine snapped his fingers and two cards fell on the table. "If I get lucky, I'll have two less brats in here," he muttered for himself, but we all heard him. He was a master at cheering others, really.

Chiron sighed and shook his head at Mr. D's words. "Travis, Katie, you two can go. Good luck," he told us.

No more than twenty feet from the Big House, Katie caught my arm and turned me around. Looking at her posture – hands on her hips, knees bent slightly inwards – I braced myself for the FBI-like interrogation that was sure to follow.

"Travis, could you tell me what was this all about? Where are we supposed to go tomorrow?" Katie asked, gesturing towards the Big House. The faint light illuminating her from the back was giving her an even more intimidating look.

"Umm... well... we're travelling to Texas."

"To _Texas?_ And why?"

I shrugged. "No idea."

"Yeah, like I believe that," Katie scoffed. "You know pretty well what you've dragged me into, and I think I've got the right to know that as well, now that you've made me agree with whatever sick plan you've created this time."

I couldn't stop the snickers from breaking through after Katie's accusation. "You're making me sound like a creep."

"Well, you are," Katie shot back.

"Thanks," I grinned. "But I really don't know why is Chiron kicking us out of Camp," I insisted, as I felt grass wrapping itself around my sneakers and tying me to the ground. "The only thing I know is that... you see... we're going there on a quest. Haven't you heard Chiron announce it after dinner?"

I handed one security pass to Katie, but she didn't take it. Open-mouthed, she was staring at me like her brain was unable to process what I'd said and I felt like I'd petrified her, like I was Medusa.

Yuck, Medusa. If there was one mythological monster I really couldn't stand, it was her. Luckily enough, Percy had sent her to Tartarus three years ago, and the hag was too lazy to come back. But come to think of it; even if Athena had wanted to punish her, couldn't she have thought of a punishment harming only Medusa and not everyone who saw her? The goddess of wisdom... Okay, shutting up now!

_Why do I have a feeling some owl has... err, sent a present to my t-shirt?_

After about half a minute, Katie started stammering. I made out something like "_Q-Quest?_ You... me... I'm going with you... on a quest?"

"Right you are, Katie."

"And you locked me in the restroom because... That was supposed to be an invitation?!" she exclaimed, still looking shocked, and finally took her security pass and pocketed it.

"That _was_ an invitation. Didn't it look like one?"

Katie covered her face with her hands and groaned. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"What have I gotten you into, you mean?" I corrected. "Well, only into traveling across the country with the hottest and the awesomest person by your side."

Even though she kept her face hidden, I could imagine Katie's expression very vividly from the flat tone of her voice as she spoke. "I honestly admire your neck."

"Well, that's nice…" I trailed off, blinking in confusion. Honestly, that was not the kind of reaction I'd expected. But I guess you could say I have a sexy neck, if you think about it.

"Because with how big your head is, it should've snapped under the pressure," Katie finished.

I huffed. "And here I thought you were actually going to say something nice about me for a change."

Instead of replying, Katie only shook her head and started walking slowly in the direction of the strawberry fields. I decided to follow her and we just walked around the camp for a while, saying a word here and there. (And Katie just _had_ to comment about this mysterious white spot on my t-shirt... But maybe it was good that she did, because it pulled me out of dreaming about walking with Katie like that, but holding hands and making out every few feet. This would've probably ended with me stumbling on some root and falling flat on my nose, which didn't sound very tempting.) Anyway, I realized that it was probably the first more-or-less civil conversation we'd had since we were ten or so. Interesting, right?

"You know, Stoll, that was a very mean thing that you did," Katie said suddenly.

"Uh, what? What have I done?" I asked, confused.

"You made me say yes to the quest. What if I didn't want to? I'd be forced to," Katie explained.

"Uh, right," I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "But you do want to go, right? You've always wanted to visit some other states."

"Well, I do, but that's not the point."

"Quite the opposite. It is the point. I mean, no harm done, so why worry about things that didn't happen?"

Katie sighed, frustrated. "You don't get it. I love traveling, so I'd probably agree anyway, even though it means spending extra time with you. But there are kids, who don't ever want to leave the camp, 'cause they've been traumatized for life by the war. Think about what you would've caused if you'd chosen one of them!"

That shut me up. Katie was right; almost everyone under the age of ten had spent the whole September just crying, mourning or brooding, and some of them still hadn't moved on. A good portion of the older ones were like that, too. It was really depressing, but after all, what is cheerful about a war, if you aren't Ares?

I couldn't tell Katie that I hadn't even thought twice about anyone else – well, not in particular – but I thought about one other thing that hadn't crossed my mind before. What if Katie had been one of them, too, and she was only hiding it? Now, I knew she wasn't – it was clear from her reactions; Katie was a lousy liar – but had she been, and had I forced her to go on a quest despite that, I would've never forgiven myself.

Somehow, we just happened to end up on the pier of the Canoe lake. When we reached the end, Katie pushed me into the water without any warning. The water wasn't very cold, so when I surfaced, I didn't climb back on the pier immediately. I just put my hair out of my eyes and wiped them clear of water.

"What was that for?!" I protested, trying to shake the water out of my ears.

"For those secrets, Stoll," Katie answered and walked away, leaving me standing in the lake like a sea gauge – or a lake gauge. And maybe it was just a trick of light – by the lake, the moon was the only thing that provided light – but I could've sworn that I saw Katie smile and wink at me just before she turned away.

* * *

_That's the end of chapter 1. Stay tuned for more!_


	2. The Unpleasant Conductor

_Would you look at this? I'm back with another chapter! Again, beta-ed by Potato Jam 7.  
_

_Unfortunately, I still don't own PJO._

_Thanks to Thiswasmade4me and MusicalMelody for reviewing and everyone else who follows this story._

_By the way, MusicalMelody, this one is longer :)_

* * *

**The Unpleasant Conductor**

**Katie POV**

I couldn't believe it! I was going on a quest! A real quest, unlike the so-called ones in summer (aka, a let's-go-find-some-demigod-in-California-where-I-m elt-like-a-popsicle quest). I was going to travel!

I was so excited I almost couldn't sleep. Although, that could be also because of the snoring that shook the walls of my cabin. (Honestly, Dan could snore like a hippo with a serious head cold!)

Soon, my eyelids got too heavy to stay open. As much as I wanted to stay awake to savor the night before my For Real Quest (!), I just couldn't. Slowly, I drifted off to sleep. Thoughts swirled around me. Travis, the bathroom, the lake, the lake, and the lake. No matter how hard I tried not to think about it, my thoughts always scampered back to earlier that evening when I dunked Travis in the lake. The thing I could mostly remember was his hair. Plastered against the side of his face, tangled up, elfish ears exposed. He looked like a brown haired Peter Pan. The only difference was that Peter Pan was a whole lot more adorable than my darling 'friend', Travis.

That night, I dreamed I was riding a human-sized chocolate Easter bunny. The bunny was running on a racing track somewhere in the mountains. Travis was there, too, playing the part of a pit crew (what would a pit stop for an Easter bunny look like, anyway?) and I heard him telling me I was two seconds and 389 thousandths behind the track record and I was losing time especially in the turns two and eight, where I kept failing to hit the apex.

I woke up because of a sudden, strong flash of light from somewhere. I opened my eyes and immediately, I saw Travis. Let me tell you, when the first thing you see in the morning is a Stoll, you wake up very quickly.

Travis was leaning through the window above my head and shining in my eyes with a light bulb. A smirk was plastered on his face.

Annoyed, I threw my pillow at him, wondering how he was even able to do what he'd just done. I could've sworn the window had been closed when I fell asleep.

Travis ducked and the pillow went flying through the window. Cursing the son of Hermes, I got up to bring my pillow back. I could've slept longer, it was just dawn!

"Well, I'm not saying it won't be... err... _interesting_, but do you really want to go on the quest in your pajamas?" I heard Travis' voice say somewhere from my left.

"What... OH!"

My eyes went wide. No, no, no, NO! How could I have had forgotten? We were going on the quest that day! And, we were supposed to meet in... what was the time... in ten minutes!

I snatched my pillow, stormed into the cabin and quickly changed into the first things I found. (Mine, of course; I wouldn't have put someone else's clothes on, especially since none of my sisters wore clothes that were my size.) I hastily put my hair in a ponytail and spent the next few minutes looking frantically for things that I would need or could be useful on the quest. Only when I wanted to stuff them into my backpack, reconciled with the fact that I'd have to do without many things I'd been unable to find in the hurry, I found out that I'd already packed my backpack last night. Facepalm moment.

Annoyed at myself, I put the things I'd taken back to their original places and threw my backpack over my shoulders. The backpack, which had been all set for eight hours! But I'm not really a morning person; you can't expect me to run on 100% five minutes after I wake up.

I took a last look at my sleeping half-siblings and stifled a smile when I saw Dan with his head buried in his pillow, his left arm and leg uncovered by the duvet and hanging down from the bed. To anyone else, it might've looked like he was on the edge of falling off the bed, but I knew this was his most comfortable sleeping position, and it was relatively safe. Most of the time.

And then there were my other siblings. Miranda, Rose, David, Simon, Alexis, and the list went on. I felt a little strange leaving them like this, with pretty much no warning the night before, but it wasn't like this quest was life threatening or anything. As far as I was concerned, the prophecy hadn't mentioned any death. That sounded positive. As much as I hate Stoll, I'd hate to see him die, even though he'd be doing the whole world a huge favor if he did. I swear, one day that boy will start World War Three by some stupid prank…

"Bye," I whispered, though I don't know why I even bothered to keep my voice down. I'd long since learned that it took a lot to wake them up, and if I hadn't woken them up by searching for my personal ambrosia Ziploc bag, I don't think I would've managed by just speaking. But… I don't know; it felt right to whisper. Gut feeling; don't ask me why.

Thinking I had wasted enough time already, I just checked if I had my knife on me and sprinted towards Thalia's pine tree, which was just the workout I needed to finally shake off the last traces of sleep.

Travis was already there. He was dressed in the Camp t-shirt and jeans, with a thin Breaking Benjamin jacket over the t-shirt and, like me, with a backpack. Though, I'd bet my best gardening gloves that Travis probably didn't pack any clothes - probably just smelly socks and boxers and a butt load of pranking supplies.

When I reached the tree, Travis was leaning against the trunk and snoring. Of course, he was only pretending, but I would have been more surprised if he had really fallen asleep. This was just normal Travis' behavior. I had seen him running to the tree from my cabin anyway, so that was one more reason for why he didn't fool me.

He was trying so hard to trick me, I decided to trick him for once.

Argus had already been waiting for us in the van, so I whispered to him to let me go in and step on it. Since Travis had already pranked him a couple of times, Argus didn't argue.

_How long is it going to take for Travis to figure it out?_ I wondered, snickering inwardly as the wheels started turning.

Not so long, after all. When I closed the door of the van behind me, Travis stirred and, because the van had already been moving, the fool decided to jump on the roof. Fortunately, Argus had the brains to stop and let him enter the van so we wouldn't get in trouble with cops. Or lose some annoying luggage from the roof, as the van didn't even have a roof carrier for Travis to hold onto.

Travis didn't say anything as he seated himself in the van next to me (insert a deep sigh of suffering from me here) and buckled himself up. He gave me an impressed look, though, which gave me a feeling of satisfaction. He should know that I was not about to be only on the receiving end in this war.

As I was watching Argus drive, I started thinking about his eyes, huge and blue, covering every centimeter of his body. Funny, I'd been at camp for seven years now and never once wondered about them. He had eyes on his whole body, didn't he? So wouldn't it hurt him when he sat, walked or leaned against some of them? And… how, exactly, did he see? I couldn't imagine suddenly seeing everything around me, above me and under me. Random thought; blame my ADHD.

The journey to the railway station was surprisingly boring and, because of a car crash, about twenty minutes longer than it was normally supposed to be. Along the way, Travis was muttering something under his breath. I caught the words pink feathers, glue and power fan. Other words weren't coherent enough for me to understand them.

_Better not knowing what this is about,_ I thought.

We got out of the van in front of the station. Well, at least Travis did. When I tried getting out, I felt a sharp tug on my hair. I looked around and saw that my hair was tied to the seat belt. That Travis was howling with laughter, so when I untied the knot, I gave the jerk a good kick, hoping that he would get the message I was trying to pass to him. But since he hadn't gotten it during the last six years, I got the general feeling he wouldn't get it.

We said goodbye to Argus, took our backpacks and went to buy the tickets. I let Travis handle it, while I bought us some donuts for breakfast. (No, not from Monster Donut, if you're wondering.) That turned out to be a mistake, because...

"One senior to Beijing through Cairo and two disabled to Sydney, tomorrow's Pennsylvanian on 8:27, please."

I blinked, hoping I'd heard wrong. _What the grapefruit?! It's official now. He's nuts._

The woman behind the window looked at him weirdly, probably wondering whether she should call someone. I felt for her. Seriously; from New York City to Australia by train?

"Could you repeat it please, young man?"

"One senior to Beijing... ugh, I've forgotten."

"Travis, get lost!" I pushed him away from the window, smirking inwardly at him embarrassing himself. "Two times student to Oklahoma City, with shifts on Washington D. C., Chicago and Fort Worth, with reservations. On that train that's leaving in fifteen minutes," I added. I couldn't let Travis buy tickets for a journey around the world, we didn't have the time for that; we had to catch our train.

The journey to Washington was a bit boring, but also not very long. For the journey to Chicago, we got reservations on opposite seats, what was very unlucky for me. When we sat down, the first thing Travis did was putting his feet on my thighs. It was true that he had new, almost unused shoes, which I was thankful for, but I still kept on pushing them down. Sometimes on the ground, sometimes just on the seat beside me when he resisted too much.

"Travis, get those feet down!" I snapped, when my annoyance reached its boiling point.

"Uh... what?" Travis asked, putting his typical clueless expression on.

Of course, he had his headphones in and was in his own world, deaf to everything that was happening around him.

"Put your feet down! This is a seat, it's used for sitting, so you aren't allowed to put feet there!"

"But my shoes are clean! And it's you who puts my feet on the _seat,_" Travis pointed out.

"Yeah, 'cause you rest them on my _legs,_" I cried in exasperation. "Use your brain, I believe you have some!"

"And if I don't?" Travis opened his mouth into an 'o' shape and knocked on the top of his head. The sound that it emitted reminded me of a coconut or a watermelon. "See? It's hollow," he grinned.

"That explains a great deal. Now, you are putting these shoes down! Or…" I took my dagger out and imitated a cut on his calf. "I could do it instead, but I'm not sure if you'd like that."

Travis grumbled and put down... his shoes.

He took off his shoes, threw them under his seat and his feet, now only in socks, stayed where they had been; which meant on my legs. I swore to myself I had to take better care of what I was saying or he'd find another loophole and use it to annoy me to no end, just like now.

Besides, his shoes may have been clean, but there was no way his socks were, too. He'd had to be wearing them for a week at least. Bleh. There was a huge hole near his big toe, and both socks had a strange brownish tint to them. On top of that, they also stank like…well, dirty socks. After about a minute of me trying to resist the disgusting smell, I gave up and turned the air conditioning to the max.

Unfortunately, it didn't work. Travis' awful socks kept torturing my nose. I felt like throwing the donuts up from the stench coming from the socks, which would've been a waste of good food. Finally, I opened the window and leaned out slightly so I was able to breathe some fresh air. I know it's not allowed, but this was an emergency. Had you been there, you would've understood.

"Hey, can you read? First, do not lean out of the window. And second, do not open the window or the air conditioning won't be able to work."

Arrgh...

_Wait,_ I realized. These signs tended to be everywhere in trains, but not both at once! That would've been absolutely illogical. Why would I need to be forbidden from leaning out of the window if I wasn't supposed to open the window in the first place? What was I, a ghost, that I could lean through a closed window? I don't think ghosts have to worry about little things like their heads getting sliced off from their body at all.

However, compared to one warning that I'd seen, both signs at once wouldn't be such a tragedy. I mean, who would've thought that a nut mix (peanuts, pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews) would contain nuts?! And, as a producer, I certainly wouldn't expect the customers to actually open the sack before they start eating. Just where has the human common sense disappeared to?

That's when another unpleasant thought struck me. Did Travis want to stink like that during the whole quest? (See the collocation? Loss of human common sense equals Travis.) He'd scare away every living being that would be closer than 5 miles from him, even polecats!

I was afraid I was in desperate need to buy some oxygen bottles in Oklahoma City or somewhere, like the ones mountaineers and divers had. Otherwise... I didn't even want to think about the other option.

"Hello," the source of the horrible stench said and knocked on my shoulder like on a door. "Can you hear me?" He waved his hand in front of my face.

"I can, but I can also smell you, which is a lot worse," I answered truthfully.

"You wanted me to put my shoes down."

"Yeah, but _down_ like _on the ground._ Not take them off. Are you trying to not understand me?"

"They are on the ground," Travis pointed out.

"Okay, point for you, stinky. Put them back on your feet. Honestly, you don't mind the smell?"

"What do you want?! I put them down because you told me to!"

_You know what? I'd really like... to not suffocate!_ I thought, feeling like even Airwaves wouldn't help me in this situation, despite their slogan 'Airwaves breathe easy'.

"Now I want you-"

"Really?"

"-to put them back on," I finished, glaring at Travis for interrupting me, and even more for what he had said.

Like I'd ever...

"You know, it would be annoying as Hades if you, by any chance, gave me two opposite information," he commented.

"Travis," I sighed. "That's not even funny."

Didn't he ever get bored with it? Seemed like not... and there were only the two of us on this quest, meaning I was the only one he could prank or annoy.

Great! I could look forward to several dream-like days. From a nightmare...

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he muttered and finally, finally, put his shoes back on.

I let the window open for some more time, until the air in our compartment returned to being classified as breathable.

"I'm going to the bathroom," I announced after closing the window, so he'd know where I was. We were on a quest, after all; I didn't want to take any risks.

I don't need to describe the next two minutes, do I? I thought so.

So, as I came back and opened the door of the compartment, I looked straight into the eyes of some girl standing behind the window.

Uh, _what?_

I shut my eyes for a while, but when I opened them again, nothing had changed.

I shook my head. How could anyone have been behind the window? I was in a train and the train was moving, so...

Wait. The girl looked somewhat familiar to me. I looked again and suddenly, I realized what this was about.

The girl's name was Laura Higgs and she was probably Iris-messaging us. A lot of people said she was going to be Travis and Connor's successor sometimes in the future. I shuddered involuntarily when I thought about the possibility of the existence of another being similar to the one I was currently travelling with.

"Hey Katie," Laura greeted me, struggling from the effort of keeping her laughter down. "Don't worry, you can talk to me, I'm not a hallucination or vision or something like that."

"Ha ha. Hey. Why are you calling? Do you need something from me?" I asked, because it struck me as slightly weird. The two of us had hardly even spoken to each other before.

_Oh, right,_ I realized, _Travis was probably the one she called. But where is he?_

"Um... I need to tell you that you've been the first one to get fewer points from Cabin inspection than zero. Congratulations!" Laura said in an announcer's voice, breaking my thoughts about Travis' current location.

"WHAT?" I yelled, gaping at the girl in front of me. The Demeter Cabin had always received high points from inspection; what had happened?

"Kidding," she grinned. "But seriously, I think I'm speaking for the whole camp, Mr. D excluded of course, when I ask you how has my dear big brother managed to get you to go anywhere with him.

_The whole camp? Oh no..._

I groaned. The whole camp meant the Aphrodite girls. And with the Aphrodite girls, two normal human beings of the opposite sex hanging out couldn't just be friends (or enemies with me and Travis) - they had to be in the middle of some steamy romantic relationship.

But seriously, why had I agreed to go on this quest with him?

I decided to go for the safe option. "He forced me to. He barricaded me in the restroom and said that I have to say yes, or he won't let me out. So I said yes, and here I am," I shrugged.

Laura snorted. "Typical that he'd pick you."

"Yeah, he seems to prank me more than the others," I agreed. "I wish I'd know why. But I'm just glad he picked me, instead of… for example… your brother Brian."

I remember the times when my English teacher had drilled the difference between –ed and –ing adjectives into me, but Brian Howard was something like the walking definition of the words depressed and depressing both. Understandable; this eleven-year-old kid had lost his twin, Hugh, in the war, and when you lose a twin, it's like you lose half of yourself. I couldn't imagine being on his place, and I sympathized with him very much. I hoped he'd get over it, at least partly, because I doubt you can ever completely get over something like that.

Laura grimaced. "Poor guy. He just seems so… hollow, like he's lost the will to live. We all try to help him as much as we can, and mostly Travis and Connor try to cheer him up. It works a bit, but he's got a very long way to go."

I sighed. "That, he does. Talking about Travis; don't you know where your dear brother is?" I asked. I hadn't seen him when I walked inside, so...

Laura turned her head slightly to the side. I looked where she was looking, but only my backpack was there, not Travis.

Suddenly, I felt something very, very cold rolling down my back and stopping exactly opposite my navel. I yelped and pulled my t-shirt out from my jeans. I don't know why I had even put my t-shirt inside this time, I never do that.

Anyway, when I pulled my t-shirt out, a Pepsi can fell on the ground, because someone (have a guess; if you don't get it right on the first attempt, you're worse off with your brain than Apollo with haikus… umm, no offence) had shoved it down my t-shirt.

I bent down to pick the can up, turned around and threw it at a laughing Travis, who caught it with surprising ease.

"If I'm dear, you shouldn't throw things at me, should you?" Travis grinned and gave Laura thumbs up.

Laura giggled and mouthed, _You owe me one_.

"You planned this," I huffed. "You're awful."

"I wanted to ask you about that anyway," Laura smiled. "So, I'm going to the climbing wall. Hi and good luck on that quest. See you when you get back," she said, waved her hand and cancelled the connection. I was able to see the countryside and trees behind the window again, which was how it was supposed to be.

"See you," Travis replied quietly with a strange expression I couldn't quite figure out, but that immediately changed into his typical cheeky one. "Anyway, thanks for throwing that can at me, I didn't have to bend to the ground to pick it up myself," he said, opening the can and drinking its contents.

"Yeah, 'cause you are old, gray and wrinkly, you wear glasses and your back aches when you bend down, aren't you, Travis?" I said dryly, rolling my eyes.

"I'll have you know," Travis stated in a pompous voice that didn't suit him very much, "that I do wear glasses, because sunglasses are glasses, too, and my back has ached when I bent down once or twice. And it didn't have anything to do with the fact that I'd pranked Clarisse not very long before. And if it, by some chance did… well, that's beside the point."

I snorted, thinking of how he could twist the meaning of every single sentence that I said to him into something that was in his favor. Then, I smiled, remembering that time when Travis got the balls to 'propose' to Clarisse with a Ring Pop. I swear, ever since then, I don't think he's ever walked quite the same.

From this moment on, the journey had gotten a lot better. Travis had several movies on his MP4 player and he played them for me.

You might ask how it was possible that he had an MP4 player, when demigods couldn't use modern technology, because it alerted monsters. Well, I'd asked Travis about the same thing, and he explained that it wasn't all technology that was bad.

"There hasn't been a single hair dryer or toaster that has ever alerted a monster," Travis said. "Electronics as such is safe; the problem is only with stuff used for communication – computers, phones, walkie-talkies, those things. If I used my MP4 for chatting, okay; I'll probably alert some monster. But if I just listen to music or watch a movie - no problem. I can't expect an attempt on my life every time I open a fridge or turn the lights on; that's crAAAzy."

"Well, maybe there are some fridge monsters somewhere; who knows," I joked, but I had to admit, it made sense. Now, if only Travis used the sensible part of his brain more often…

During the journey, we watched The Journey to the Center of the Earth (at the beginning, I couldn't decide whether it was a cartoon or there were real actors, I really don't understand why), How to Train Your Dragon (while cute, that dragon looked like a winged newt, the director should come and have a look at Peleus to see a _real_ dragon), Taxi Taxi (I was sure I wouldn't enjoy a ride like that; at least my stomach definitely wouldn't)...

I was a little bit nervous the first evening, because I'd never travelled by train during the night before, but both nights were really all right. The only unpleasant thing was the fact that I had to pull my legs from under Travis' head several times, because he had probably confused them with a pillow. It was uncomfortable; Travis was definitely thickheaded in both meanings of the word. I forgave him in Chicago, though, when he paid for both of our meals that we had in the station restaurant.

Too late, I realized that there was something funny about the last train's journey. We were almost at the end, and still there was no conductor. Okay, we were in the last car, but the train wasn't so long. The time passes so fast when you're watching some good movie; according to the schedule, we were due to arrive in Oklahoma City in less than an hour.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door of our air-conditioned compartment number eight. Travis, who was listening to music again, surprisingly noticed. He pulled the headphones out of his ears and opened the door.

A guy, who could only be the conductor, was standing there.

_About time, _I thought.

The conductor asked for the tickets and Travis handed them to him. He had a very strong accent from somewhere in the north, so it was hard to understand him, but we guessed that was what he'd said. What other thing would a conductor want, if not the tickets?

The thing was, instead of scribbling something on the ticket or putting a stamp on it or something, he stuffed our tickets into his mouth and started to chew. Okay, I understood that the tickets contain cellulose, which is a form of sugar, but that diet was just plain weird and...

Wait, chewing the tickets?! I looked again at the conductor, but he wasn't there anymore. Instead of him, I was looking at an eight feet tall giant in a far too small uniform. _Great._

"Laistrygonian!" I yelled and slammed the compartment door shut. Or, better to say I tried to, but his foot got in the way. It's not hard to block something with your foot if your shoe size is twenty or so, is it?

Travis unsheathed his latchkey (sorry, sword) and lunged himself at the conductor. His aim was good, but the conductor fell and Travis' sword only made a change to his hairstyle.

I may not be a daughter of Aphrodite, but even I could tell for sure that it looked horrible. Even the hairstyles of the old metal bands were beautiful compared to this... I can't even say it was a hairdo. It looked like a dead squirrel on his head, or something like that. If he could look in a mirror, I'm sure he'd be glad if the ground would swallow him. Yup; he should jump in Tartarus out of shame and save us the trouble.

Meanwhile, I heard some weird noise from the front side of the car, which reminded me of a scrap yard. I ran towards the source to check it and saw something I highly doubt I'd ever see again.

A giant, which I recognized by his skin tone as a Hyperborean, was busying himself with something on the bonds between the cars. But that wasn't the worst thing about him at the moment, even if it could result in some serious trouble for us. The Hyperborean wore something like two seamed bed sheets with holes for head and arms instead of a t-shirt. The sheets looked like he had waded through a dirty pond in them – their color was a gross dark khaki.

I'd rather not describe what he was wearing instead of pants; I don't want to give you nightmares. I'll have them for certain, and that's enough. Maybe I'd have to sleep beside Travis' socks to get the image out of my head. Hard to tell which is worse!

A deafening SMASH tore me out of my disgusting musings and I figured out what the Hyperborean had been trying to do. He had managed to detach our car from the rest of the train and we were losing speed, the rest of our train slowly getting out of sight.

But the giant had gotten out of sight as well. Where was he? He couldn't have just disappeared! Hyperboreans weren't even the type of monsters that exploded into monster dust when dead, so even if he had killed himself, there would've been a statue of him. Of course, if he hadn't fallen out of the car.

"I hope I deserve some dinner after this hard work," I heard someone say behind my back.

Well, mystery uncovered. I turned around and saw the Hyperborean checking me out. "Okay, what will it be for today? Legs, or breasts, or maybe entrails..."

What he'd said made me want to throw up. Why did all monsters have to be as gross as possible? Travis' infamous 'Ode to Boobies' from two summers ago was one thing, this was something else. And anyway, shouldn't Hyperboreans be peaceful? Of course, I had to find an exception; just my demigod luck.

At some point, I realized this giant was not a normal Hyperborean giant. For one, he was a lot smaller than Hyperboreans usually were, which I hadn't thought much of at first, thinking he was just young. But when I saw that he had only one eye, and not in the way half-blind people have, I was certain. The giant had one big eye in the middle of his forehead. I got a feeling I had the pleasure to meet a mutant between a Hyperborean and a Cyclops.

Should I call someone for discovering an endangered species? I thought about it for a while, but decided I wouldn't, because I didn't know if there even was an organization that helped endangered monsters, and I certainly didn't know one's number. Of course, the fact that he'd just said... what he'd said, helped me with deciding.

The giant thought for a while and then stated, "Oh-kay, I'll go with some liver and kidney for today."

He licked his lips and started moving in my direction. When he was only about three feet from me, I instinctively jumped and stabbed him in his stomach with my dagger.

_That will teach him a lesson, he won't be having daydreams about eating me anymore,_ I thought.

Good news: The stab was enough for the sick-minded giant to turn into an ice statue, which saved me trouble.

Bad news: When he turned into the statue, he started falling. That itself wouldn't have been so bad, but he fell on me. I my stomach preceded me as I slammed down on the floor with the statue lying across my back.

It was far from comfortable; the car's floor was dirty and dusty and it made me sneeze violently. Moreover, the statue weighed at least five hundred pounds and I got a feeling he was going to bring me one massive backache.

I called for Travis, hoping he came here before I got scoliosis or something. Maybe also hypothermia, because hey; it was an ice statue that was lying on top of me, and it was freaking cold.

After a while that seemed to me like twenty minutes, but in reality was only about two or three minutes, I heard a yell. "What the hell are you doing?" roared a passenger from some another compartment.

Another voice I recognized as Travis' answered, "Just a program for the entertainment of passengers, sorry."

I jibbed. So, Travis is capable of apologizing? Well, you learn some new things every day.

"Well, so you know, I am not enjoying myself right now. I was trying to sleep," the angry guy snapped and slammed the door of his compartment.

_Sleep?_ I thought, surprised. It was only quarter past nine or so; that was early for sleeping.

I hoped Travis had already gotten rid of the conductor. Hopefully, without any injuries.

One minute, two minutes, Travis was nowhere to be heard. (I couldn't very well see anything with the statue crushing me, so I had to rely only on my hearing.) I started to worry about him. What was taking him so long? Only one Laistrygonian was there...

My eyes widened as an unpleasant thought struck me. And what if there wasn't? What if there were more of them? Maybe even, like, ten! Laistrygonians did tend to go in groups, after all. And I'd left Travis on his own when I ran after the mutant giant that was now lying on me like a... well, like a statue he was. I was only a burden for Travis! Okay, he may have been extremely annoying and very often even incorrigible, but that didn't mean I wished him a one-way trip to the Underworld!

A flash of light and a clicking sound tore me out of these musings. "What are you doing in here? Weightlifting?" an amused familiar voice said and I sighed in relief. As a result of my sighing, the dust from the car's floor lifted and sent me into another sneezing fit.

I turned my head so I was able to see Travis, and when I saw the reason for the flash of light, I blushed redder than the emergency brake.

He... took a picture of me! He took a picture! Now, when I was lying on the dirty car's floor under an ice giant's statue, he FREAKING TOOK A PICURE OF ME!

If I could've, I would've given him a big slap for embarrassing me like that, and for any future embarrassment, if that photo got into the hands of some gossiper in the camp, but from my current position, I wasn't able to do much more than growl.

"Travis, don't play paparazzi and help me," I commanded, annoyed by what he had just done.

"And I should do it because...?" Travis raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, you can't leave me here like that!"

"So... if you give me one good, I repeat, good reason to why I should lift this fatty here, maybe I'll do it."

What game was Travis playing now?

"Uh... well... I think..." I stammered, trying to think of something, and fast. "You see, the other people in the train might get curious about what is a statue doing here."

"Why? I don't see any problem with the statue staying in the car."

I growled in frustration and tried to approach Travis with a different attitude. "If you leave alone, you'll miss me," I said.

"My backpack isn't damaged; I've got everything that I need. I don't need someone who slaps me five times per minute," Travis grinned.

"If you were less annoying than you are, I wouldn't have to," I defended myself.

"Have to? The only thing you have to do in your life is die," Travis argued. "Anything else?"

"W-well, I don't know..." I said. "You won't make it without me?" I guessed.

Immediately, I felt like slapping my hand over my mouth. (I would've done it, had I been able to.) You don't say something like that to someone who's saving you.

"Will I? Well then, maybe I won't make this, too!" Travis turned around and walked back towards our compartment.

_No, no, no..._

"Wait, sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" I cried. _For every god's sake, please let him return,_ I prayed.

Travis, luckily, returned. He crossed his arms and looked at me, an annoyed frown on his face.

"How many of them were there?" I asked him. "How many Laistrygonians?" I added, not wanting him saying how many... I don't know; windows were in the car.

"804," Travis snapped. "Fortunately, they were divided and not in one group," he added quietly for himself.

"Now seriously, how many? There's no way there were 804 monsters."

"Divide it by 268," Travis told me after a good while.

_Wait... Did Travis just sort-of give me a Math exam? The world has turned upside down!_

"Three," I breathed after I made the math in my head. "Three giants… against Travis alone."

Silently, I promised Travis I was never going to leave him alone anymore on this quest. He had been in this situation only because of me and my clumsiness.

I hadn't said it as quietly as I thought, because I heard Travis grumble that he'd want some privacy when in the restroom or taking a bath. I blushed bright red, and when images of these situations flashed through my mind, I went even redder.

"Okay, let's come back to why I should free you, you ketchup-faced damsel in distress," Travis said, looking uncomfortable.

_Maybe he got an idea of what I was... well not thinking about, but... what went through my head,_ I thought as I saw him staring at me.

But wait a minute... I was a ketchup-faced damsel in distress for him, yeah? Okay, my face probably had the color of ketchup and I couldn't argue with the 'damsel in distress' part, but that didn't give him any rights to call me like that! Ketchup Face... If anything, what I mostly grew on the fields were strawberries, not tomatoes… But Jam Face sounded even worse.

"So?" Travis asked impatiently.

I bit my lip, because I was out of possible ideas. Well, I had one idea, but I didn't want to tell him unless I was absolutely desperate.

"Unable to decide, are you? Come on; say something or I will let you here."

I hoped he wasn't serious. He wouldn't really leave me in the train… Right?

I sighed deeply. I knew I'd come to regret this decision for a very long time, but I needed to do this.

"I'll let you free to prank me for a week."

I shut my eyes tightly, cursing this whole situation.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Travis grinning like a lunatic. (Often, I thought he really was one, so it wasn't so much of a change.)

"That's how I like it, Ketchup Face."

I glared at him. That was not about to become his nickname for me!

"Move it," I growled, annoyed by what I had been forced to do. Nightmarish days, here I come.

After that, Travis started to roll the giant's statue from my back on my legs and then on the ground. Finally! While he was rolling the statue, I felt like I was being run over by a steamroller. However insane this might sound, for a moment I sympathized with the asphalt. This was far from comfortable.

I stood up and arched my back, because it ached a bit, and immediately, I became the subject of another photo. When I looked down, I found out the reason why.

The whole front side of both my t-shirt and my jeans was sporting a dull, brownish-grayish color. I tried to get rid of it by dusting off my clothes, but it didn't work as well as I hoped it would. The majority of dust and filth got off, but not all of it, and the color of my clothes stayed the same.

Meanwhile, our car had stopped. Since I'd begun fighting the half Cyclops-half Hyperborean, I hadn't paid attention to where we were heading. Now, I noticed that we were standing on some side rail in an industrial district... somewhere. I put my money on Oklahoma City, because the district and the city behind it were huge and there shouldn't have been any city that big except Oklahoma City where we were. According to the clock in the train, we had arrived there with twenty minutes in advance.

"Travis," I whispered, "seriously, let's put the statue somewhere, before mortals come here and freak out. Here, it won't be so good to be the center of attention. Well, more than is needed," I corrected myself. I don't think there has ever been a quest with the demigod not attracting attention of mortals. Luckily, there also hasn't been a quest that wasn't completed for the reason of the demigod being put in jail or a rubber room. Although, with Travis Stoll here, there was quite a good chance of breaking that record.

"Oh... fine, let's do it," Travis said and together, we pushed the statue in the car's restroom and closed the door behind it.

I felt relieved; I'd thought Travis would argue and leave me on my own, and I wouldn't have made it.

While we were pushing the statue, sparks flew between us, but before you say anything, they were literally sparks. I received a 'kick' of static electricity from Travis and I shivered. I've always hated it when I got one. That's why I tried to stay on good terms with Thalia.

We got out of the car, alongside other people, who were mostly cursing, talking on the phone or both, and we looked around. We were in the yard of some big factory; we were surrounded by three- and four-storey office buildings and one that was probably a production hall or a warehouse; it looked different than the rest. There weren't many lamps in the yard, and the few that were shining made the buildings look dark, abandoned and haunted. I shuddered involuntarily.

We decided to return back by following the rails. I didn't want to test if the fence around the factory was electric; the shock I'd gotten from Travis was enough.

Once we were outside the factory, we looked around ourselves and realized that we were, in fact, lost. I'd never ever been to Oklahoma City, or the state Oklahoma at all, before. (I'd lived in North Dakota before I got to the Camp.) Travis looked like he had no idea which way to go either. It did nothing to boost my confidence.

You see, it seemed like we'd just found a pretty big flaw in our plans. Travis had only looked for the train to Oklahoma City, and he hadn't said anything about how to get from here to Texas. I, having confidence in him (even if it was just a little), had thought he had at least an idea. Well, it was kind of true, but…

"Hm, you know, if you made a table with 'TEXAS' written on it, took off your clothes and stood on the side of a highway with the table in front of your private parts, I'm sure we'd get a ride," Travis mused.

"Travis Stoll," I growled through gritted teeth, finding it hard to even find the words to say after a suggestion like this. Though I'm sure if I found them, it wouldn't be pretty.

"Alright, fine," Travis backtracked. "You don't have to cover yourself with the table, if you want. OW!" he yelped, when I kicked him to let him know about my feelings about the idea. "Do you play soccer or what?" Travis grumbled, rubbing his shin.

"No," I said, glaring. "But I can try. In soccer, you kick a ball."

"Eh, no thanks," Travis said, crossing his hands in front of his crotch protectively.

Looking wary, Travis' next idea was just taking a hike into the residential part of the city and looking for something useful. I agreed to this one, because I was unable to find a better solution of this problem.

"Wanna go somewhere for dinner?" Travis asked, once we had entered the residential part and his stomach had started grumbling. It was so loud, I could hear it even despite the great number of cars on the street.

_What?!_ I almost tripped over my own feet in shock. Either Travis had been hiding this side of him all the time, or he had been taking some 'How to Become a Gentleman' courses (doubtful), or he'd heard my own stomach joining the symphony. The truth was, I was hungry. Very hungry.

I nodded. It's not every day that you see Travis Stoll behaving normally, so I decided to make the most of it. And, had he not asked, I'd have probably requested visiting some restaurant anyway.

_I just hope he didn't suggest this just because he knows a chef here and has alerted him to put some laxative in my food, it certainly wouldn't be the first time, _I thought, but Travis looked quite genuine. Besides, how could he have alerted the chef? He wouldn't have had the time or the means. So, I stayed calm.

"Okay, I'm giving you thirty bucks; there's some restaurant over there, looks pretty decent. I... need to get some business done. Hopefully it won't take more than an hour," Travis said, putting the money in my hand. He was in charge of our money on this quest, what I was nervous about most of the time.

However, I wasn't very good with the idea of us splitting up. Had he already forgotten the last time that had happened?

"Travis, I want to go with you. I don't want to repeat the train incident," I said.

"No! I mean; Katie, please. Let me go on my own. Trust me. This is just something I need to do and it would be better for me to do it alone."

Travis said it in such a serious voice, that at first, I thought he was possessed. I certainly hadn't seen him even half as serious ever before. And it was this seriousness and... mature behavior (never thought I'd say Travis and mature in one affirmative sentence) that, along with my stomach, persuaded me to give in and let him go alone.

He's got his sword, he isn't defenseless, I thought. I only hoped this 'top secret business' wasn't going to turn out to be something illegal.

After I told him that I agree, Travis' eyes shone and he started to play gentleman. He bowed in front of me and offered me his arm to escort me to the restaurant. I accepted, on the verge of laughing all the time. I mean, he messed up everything that he could, and even something I'd thought he couldn't.

When he bowed, his fringe fell in his eyes so he had to push it away; while we were walking arm in arm, he was goggling at every girl with a v-neck that we met, and he was pretty obvious about it (he even tripped over a loose pavement tile because of that); he tried to open the front door for me, but he didn't realize he wasn't able to, because his foot was in the way; then, he tried to push the door, ignoring the big 'PULL' sign; he led me straight to the table with a big 'RESERVED' sign...

I found an empty (non-reserved) table on the balcony, so I chose to sit there before Travis could suggest anything else. I purposefully sat on the chair that I had a view on the street from. Just in case something happened.

"I'm going to leave you here, mademoiselle," Travis announced and I had to stifle my laugh with my hand. At least he didn't declare me royalty. But, when he kissed my hand before leaving, I felt my face heat up.

Why did I blush, I didn't know myself. He was Travis Stoll! The very boy that, along with his brother, had constantly been annoying me to death for almost six years! Why should I go red at his touch? I had absolutely no reason to do so, except for going red out of fury.

A sound of something hitting my table tore me out of my musings and I jerked. I immediately saw the reason – someone, probably the waiter / waitress, had thrown a dining list on my table. I shrugged and opened it. I had thirty dollars; that was more than enough for dinner.

While I was turning the pages of the list, I saw Travis down on the street. I put the list down for a minute, watching him, curious about where he was heading. If I saw where he went to, I could be able to figure out what was it that he had to do alone.

I watched him enter a building that I, after a while of solving the riddle that was the neon sign above the door, recognized as a casino. I felt a surge of annoyance flash through me.

Travis went to gamble and invited me here only so I wasn't there to scold him? (Like I couldn't do that when he comes back.) That's just great.

I shook my head in exasperation, sighed and returned to my dining list. After a minute filled with thinking, I decided to order a small vegetable salad with cheese, mozzarella sticks, and a small French fries with ketchup and Sprite. That's also how I told it to the waiter. (At least I hoped so, and I didn't tell him I wanted mozzarella ketchup and vegetable sprite or something like that, it wouldn't have been for the first time something like that happened.) I was glad the restaurant offered small portions, as I really wanted to try both the salad and the sticks, and not emptying the plate was no short of a sin in my opinion.

Only a few minutes after I'd ordered my dinner, I received the salad and sprite. I didn't need any encouragement; I immediately started digging in the salad. It was a bit too salty for my taste, but otherwise perfect. And it wasn't fried or anything.

About halfway through the salad, I saw Travis running from the casino. I put my hand to my forehead, because his pace made me think that he had some cops chasing him, but luckily that wasn't the case.

Travis disappeared behind a corner and I lost him from my sight. I shook my head, thinking it looked like I'd be either smacking my forehead or getting a heart attack when I'd discover what this was about.

I returned to my salad and finished it. Almost in the same second I set my fork down, a plate landed on my table. I mean, landed – like after a flight. I'm serious; the waiter probably thought for a minute that he was at Summer Olympics, throwing a disc. It reminded me of something Travis would have done, but with him, the plate probably wouldn't have survived. (I thought that here, too, it wouldn't survive, but the plate stopped at the very edge of the table, ending my worries of eating from the floor like a dog.)

I was enjoying unhealthy food; the last time I had one was about six years ago. I knew Mom was probably thrilled by my choice, but come on; can't a girl have something fried once in a few years?

I was finishing my dinner, eating the last French fries, when I heard deafening honking from the street.

I jumped in shock. _Whoever you are, stop that noise!_

I inhaled the rest of my fries and sprite, covered my ears with my hands and leaned from the balcony so I could look down. In the street, there stood an old blue Ford Sierra, and Travis was waving at me from its front seat. When he noticed me standing on the balcony, he finally, finally, stopped honking.

Hang on – Travis? What was he doing in that car? How had he gotten a hold of it? If I found out he'd stolen it from someone, I promised myself I'd drag him and that car by his hair back to where it was supposed to be!

"Heel, Katie! Heel!" Travis yelled, drawing odd looks from every person in sixty feet radius.

I glared at him, offended. _Heel?! I'm not your dog!_

The waiter appeared. "Your bill, miss," he said with a strange grin and told me the price. I handed him the money Travis had given me and he grumbled for a while, counting the spare, and then put several banknotes and a small pile of coins in my hand.

I ran from the restaurant, heading straight to the blue car. I saw Travis grinning at me from the driver's seat, his elbow resting on the top of the steering wheel. The look suited him quite well.

"What took you so long, Ketchup Face? Come on, let's get out of here," Travis said, patting the passenger's seat.

"It didn't take me so long. You know, I actually chew, unlike some people." I stared pointedly at Travis, sitting next to him and buckling myself up.

"So you're saying that you watch me when I eat?" Travis smirked.

"Gods, no!" I exclaimed. "I just... you know, it wasn't possible not to stare at you, with the way you ate that cheeseburger in Chicago." I prayed I wasn't blushing.

"Well, what can I say? I am a magnet for females' eyes, after all; and you, Ketchup Face, are a female. Well, if there isn't something you're not telling us, of course."

SMACK!

"And don't call me Ketchup Face!" I complained.

"Look in this small useful thingy and say I don't have a right to call you that," Travis said, with one hand tapping the rearview mirror and the other rubbing the handprint on his cheek.

I did as Travis told me to and noticed that I was almost literally from ear to ear covered in ketchup. No wonder the waiter had looked at me funny when he gave me the bill.

I wiped myself clean and sighed. I guess I had to cut him some slack; after all, he could've been trying to save me from possible embarrassment sometimes in the future.

Hang on! Had I really just thought that Travis Stoll would save someone from embarrassment? The Travis Stoll? I shook my head, thinking that I had to be really tired if thoughts like this were popping in my head.

I had a ton of questions for Travis, most of them involving the car we were sitting in, but just as I opened my mouth to ask him one of them, he stopped me with a wave of his hand.

"Now is not the time, milady. I'll gladly answer your questions along the way," he grinned.

_What the grapefruit? Milady?! Even Ketchup Face is better than that!_

I shook my head, once again wondering why I had agreed to go anywhere with Travis.

_I can't believe he's still on that gentleman stuff, _I thought._ I can only hope for the sake of my sanity that he'll stop soon._

I threw my backpack on the back seat. (A thing I didn't think through; I'd buckled myself up while I still had my backpack on my shoulders, so I had to unfasten the seatbelt, get rid of the backpack and buckle myself up again. Travis was sporting a bruise on his shoulder for laughing at me.) Travis turned the radio on and stepped on the accelerator. We set off to the West, towards our destination, which I knew next to nothing about. Kind of a problem, wasn't it? However, I was determined to get as many answers from Travis as I could.

Looking outside, the sky was just starting to turn an inky black. The moon was out, a thin sliver of a crescent, casting an eerie glow on the road. The stars twinkled, like little Christmas lights. Silver stars. Or gold. Or blue.

And then I turn and catch Travis' eyes in the rearview mirror, and I see blue stars.

* * *

_Again, reviews are appreciated._


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